Automatic liquid-injector for internal-combustion engines.



C. E. LIEBENBERG. AUTOMATIC LIQUID INJECTOR FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTIONENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.23, I9I7.

LSQEAGSO Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

INVENTOR NWEEM Sdfid FE CHRISTIAN E. LIEBENBERG, OF ERI IITH, ENGLAND.

AUTOMATIC LIQUID-INJECTOR FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

LMMALGS.

Application filed March 23, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN E. LIEBEN- BERG, a citizen of the Union ofSouth Africa, residing at Erith, in the county of Kent, England, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Liquid-Injectors for Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to an improvement in automatic liquid injectorsand more particularly to a device of this character intended for useupon internal combustion engines of the stationary type, upon enginesinstalled as power plants on automoblies or other vehicular machines, orin other like connections, where it is desired to humidity the explosivecharge as the same is contained within the explosion chamber.

An object of my invention is to provide mechanism which may be appliedto a motor of the type described by being placed to communicate with acombustion chamber or directly with the main explosion chamber, andwhich is constructed to receive operating impulse from the explosivepressure, following ignition of the explosive charge, to automaticallyinject a charge of liquid (water for preference) in spray form into theflamin charge, to thus attain a higher efficiency y converting as muchinternal heat to propulsive energy, as is possible, at the same timecushioning the working parts through the efiect of the steam present inthe charge.

A further object resides in so constructing the parts that a diaphragmis provided to be distended through impulse directed thereagainst by thefiring of the explosive charge and the liquid is thus introducedsubstantially at the'moment of commencement of the combustion of theexplosive charge, and in providing means by which the quantity of liquidas injected into the flaming charge is automatically governed and can bemanually regulated and varied.

Other objects will in part be described and in part understood from thespecification and claims, and from the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a view showing the device of the device showing the parts intheir normal position.

A base casmg member 1 is made substan tially funnel-shaped and aroundthe end of Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 22, 19119.

Serial No. 157,0;62.

ber 1. This iiitermediate casing member i is made constricted or drawnin at its upper extremity and is provided with the external screwthreads at 5. An upper casing section 6 has a stem receiving bore 7,formed through the upper part thereof, and its lower portion'is flaredand internally screw threaded to be fitted and secured upon theexternally threaded portion ofthe intermediate casing or body member 4.By fitting the casing members 1, 4, and 6 in the relation as set forth,the passage 8 of the member 1 is substantially in alinement with thestem receiving bore 7 of the member 6, and a chamber is provided withinthe several members. 7

The members 1, 4: and 6, may be finished up from castings or anysuitable metal or alloy, might be die-cast, or might be perhapsconstructed in some other way, and when assembled will form the casing.Certain operative parts are to be fitted and mounted within the casingand are to be held in place, in part, by the tightening of the variouscasing members. A diaphragm 9, which will be hereinafter referred to asthe larger diaphragm is made of such size that it will fit upon theupper edge or flared portion of the lower casing member 1, and will berigidly secured and clamped around its edge between the members 1 and 4,by

the tightening of the member 4 upon the screw threads 3 of the member 1,and adiaphragm 10 to be later'referred to and designated as the smallerdiaphragm is made of such size that it may be fitted to be clamped andheld between the intermediate and the upper casing members 4 and 6. Thetwo diaphragms 9 and 10 will in this way be spaced by the intermediatecasing member 4e, and as any distention of the diaphragm must occur inthe middle portion of the diaphragm, due to the fact that the entireperipheral edge is clamped rigidly in place, it is perhaps preferablethat each of air compartment between the two dia- )hra ms, and a ressurecom )artment below the lowermost diaphragm 9, called pressurecompartment because it isin communication with the pressure in theengine cylinder. Bores oropenings are provided through the centers ofthe diaphragms 9 and 10 for a tube 11, a head 12 being provided on theupper end to support the tube from the smaller diaphragm 10. Aspool-shaped distance orseparating piece 13 has acentral bore of suchsize that the tube will fit with reasonable snugness therethrough andthe tube is provided with external screw threads throughout a part ofthe body thereof so that as the spool is fitted between the larger andsmaller diaphragms and the tube is passed through the openings of thediaphragms and through the central bore of the spool, a nut 14 may befitted and tightened upon the tube to draw the diaphragm tightly againstthe spool, it being preferable that a washer 15 be fitted over the tubeto bear against the diaphragm 9 previous to setting up the clamp nut14:. The bore 16 of said tube is constricted at the lower extremity ofthe tube to form or provide a nozzle or spray opening 17, the upper orhead end of the tube being provided with a counter sink communicatingwith the central bore, and a valve seat 16 being thus formed. When theparts are connected in the manner as set forth with the clamp nut 14tightened, and the diaphragms 9 and 10 are clamped in place between theintermediate and top and bottom casings, the structure will be mountedsubstantially as a unit and the only movement of the parts will bethrough the distortion of the diaphragms.

A portion of the stem receiving bore 7 of the upper casing member 6 isprovided with internal screw threads formed to a rough pitch, and acontrol stem or spindle 18 is provided with a screw threaded portion tobe received in the internally screw threaded length of the stemreceiving bore so that upon turning of the control stem or spindle. thesame will be forced into or withdrawn from the central recess of thecasing. The inner end of the stem or spindle 18 terminates in a needlevalve point 18" pitched to fit the valve seat 16' and thus it will beseen that turning of the stem orspindle 18 will vary the proximity ofthis needle valve end of the stem to the valve seat of the tube 11. andthat .upward distention of the diaphragms will cause the valve seat toclose upon the needle valve point. Any form of handle or adjusting meanscan be provided on the stem or spindle 18, and to provide against theleakage of liquid back around the stem, a packing nut 19 is provided tobe turned into an internally screw threaded enlargement at the outer endof the stem receiving bore 7. A coiled spring is mounted around theinner end of the stem or spindle 18 to bear between the head 12, and thestructure of the casing member 6 around the stem receiving bore 7, andthis coil spring 20 thus holds the structure carried by the diaphragms 9and 10 normally resiliently pressed downwardly to such a point thatdistention of the diaphragms to bring the valve seat against the needlevalve point will not take place under ordinary pressure.

A liquid inlet passage 2-1 is provided through the wall of the casingmember 6 to establish communication to the chamber provided within thiscasing member, a pipe or tube 22 for the supply of liquid beingconnected with this passage, and a check or nonreturn valve 23 beingmounted to permit supply of water to the chamber and to check thepassage against the back flow of the water. The liquid supply pipe 22 isconnected with a tank or reservoir adapted to contain water or otherliquid which is to be injected into the engine, and the reservoir ortank is preferably so placed that, the cham her within the casing member6 will be kept filled with the liquid.

While the spool 13 is provided with flanges extending laterally to bearagainst the diaphragms, due to the fact that the coil spring 20 at alltimes exerts yielding pressure against the structure supported thediaphragm, it is preferable that some form of stops such as indicated at21 be provided to positively stop and limit movement of the diaphragmsupported pa 'rts under the pressure of the spring and as the liquid isto be discharged through the s ray nozzle 17 only upon the exertion of#explosive pressure against the diaphragm 9, it may under somecircumstances be found desirable or necessary to provide a spring heldvalve within the bore 16 of thetubejll to overcome the force exerted bythe suction stroke of the piston which might otherwise draw liquid fromthe chamber within the casing member sure on the diaphragm 9, Which willbe sufii- I cient to overcome any pressure upon the smaller diaphragm 10and also the bearing pressure of the sprlng 20, and thus the waterieomea or other liquid will be introduced into the flaming charge afterignition has already occurred, in this way converting the highestpercentage of internal heat to propulsive energy. It will be seen thatthe adjustment of the stem or spindle 18 will make it possible toregulate and .vary the quantity of liquid injected into the burningexplosive charge, and that the water or liquid will be introducedthrough the spray nozzle even though the charge within the explosivechamber is in a state of increasing expansion due to the relativelylarge area of the diaphragm 9 in comparison with the opening of thespray nozzle.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a liquidinjector which is automatically operated by impulses received from theignition of the explosive charge, and that liquid is introduced into theflaming charge in such a manner that steam is generated to humidity theburning gases and to act against production of carbon; and, that byintroduction of the water or other liquid heat which would otherwise beabsorbed bythe engine structure is used to convert the liquid into vaporor steam, while at the same time the parts of the engine structure arekept at a lower temperature and are cooled in such a way that in someengine structures the result may be ultimate abolition of provision fora water cooling system.

While I have shown and described only one form of the device and haveset forth only one manner of mounting the structure in conjunction withan engine and of using the same, it will of course be understood that anumber of changes and variations might be resorted to in the form andarrangement of parts to adapt the structure for application to varioustypes and styles of engines, that variations might be made in the mannerof mounting the device and connecting the same with the source of liquidsupply, and that a number of other changes might be resorted to withoutdeparting'from the spirit and scope of my invention, in view of whichfact I do not desire to be limited to the exact disclosure but only tosuch points as may be set forth in the claims, and the equivalent of theparts therein defined.

I claim 1. In an injector of the class described, the

combination with a casing, two spaced diaphragms therein dividing itsinterior into inlet, air, and pressure compartments respectively, thelast named compartment being adapted for connection with an enginecylinder and the first-named compartment being connected with a sourceof liquid supply, of a spacer between the diaphragms, an upright tubethrough both diaphragms and the spacer and having a nozzle at its lowerend, and a valve seat at its upper end, and a valve adapted to co-actwith said seat.

2. In an injector of the class described, the combination with a casing,two spaced diaphragms therein dividing its interior into inlet, air, andpressure compartments respectively, the last-named compartment beingadapted for connection with an engine cylinder and the first-namedcompartment being connected with a source of liquid supply; of a tubefixed through the centers of both diaphragms and having a nozzle at itslower end standing within the outlet from said pressure compartment,yielding means for depressing said tube, and means for closing theinlet, to the tube when said yielding means is overcome.

3. In an injector of the class described, the combination with a casing,two spaced diaphragms therein dividing its interior into inlet, air andpressure compartments respectively, the last-named compartment beingadapted for connection with an engine cylinder and the first namedcompartment being connected with a source of liquid supply; of a tubefixed through the centers of both diaphragms and having a nozzle at itslower end standing within the outlet from said pressure compartment, anda valve seat at its upper end, a valve point carried Within the casingin position to co-act with said valve seat when the tube is raised, andan expansive spring surrounding the point and bearing on the upper endof the tube, for the purpose set forth.

4. In an injector of the class described, the combination with acasing,'two spaced diaphragms therein dividing its interior into inlet,air, and pressurecompartments respectively, the last named compartmentbeing adapted for connection with an engine cylinder and the first-namedcompartment being connected with a source of supply; of a tube fixedthrough both diaphragms and having a nozzle at its lower end standingwithin the outlet from said pressure compartment, and a Valve at itsupper end, a manually adjustable stem through the upper end of thecasing, a needle valve point carried by its lower end within the inletcompartment and in position to co-act with said -Valve seat when theseat is raised, and yielding means normally depressing said tube so asto open the valve, for the purpose set forth.

5. In an injector of the class described, the combination with a casingwhose lower end is adapted to be connected with an engine cylinder, adiaphragm across the interior of the casing producing an inletcompartmentabove such diaphragm, and means for supplying liquid to thiscompartment; of an upright tube mounted through said diaphragm andhaving a nozzle at its lower end and a valve seat at its upper end, amanually 1% memes adjustable stem through the upper end of In testimonywhereof I'afiix my signature the casing, a valve oint at its lower endin presence of two wltnesses. adapted to co-act with said seat when theseat rises and close the valve, and yielding I CHRISTIAN LIEBENBERG' 5means Within the upper portion of the casing Witnesses:

for depressing the tube and normally open- IRENE BAYLY,

ing said valve for the purpose set forth. Anion L. FITZ-GERALD.

